


Running On Through The Corridors (As The Shadows Reach Out)

by Lady_Katana4544



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One)
Genre: A bit of horror too, Bob the Instecticon makes an appearance, Dreams and Nightmares, Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, Mostly Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-17
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-07-24 11:46:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,196
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7507093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lady_Katana4544/pseuds/Lady_Katana4544
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which he runs as the shadows follow behind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Running On Through The Corridors (As The Shadows Reach Out)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GhostHost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostHost/gifts).



> Written for the transformers 2016 summer exchange.
> 
> Thank you to my editors for finding the errors and making this more readable.
> 
>  
> 
> _'comm line conversation'_

In hindsight, perhaps it hadn’t been best to allow the crew to have their human inspired drinking game -- he didn’t recognize any of the names that someone had mentioned that the games were called. Plus the telling of mostly organic horror stories along with their own horror stories to try and scare each other. Ultra Magnus had both seen and heard as Drift hastened to reassure one of the smaller Cybertronians that no harm would come to them. This, he was heard vowing upon his very spark. Even the local troublemakers of the ship populace heard as Ratchet scowled heavily at the back of his helm and at everyone in the room with them.

As if Drift himself would be enough of a deterrent to hold them back from doing any real damage to either the crew or the ship itself. Ratchet was sure to be somewhere nearby as the head ship medic, though more likely to try keeping the other mech from finding trouble.

He doesn’t miss the near silent movements of Whirl as the mech scoots closer to Tailgate and his engines rev threateningly at the room at large. How interesting, as last he recalls in his data banks, the once-Wrecker didn’t care much for anyone beyond the Wreckers as a whole, and had likely deemed others as not worth his time. That was something worth noting.

Perhaps it would then be best to keep both optics open on things as they happened and have a talk with their ship leaders.

Searching the crowd with his optics, Ultra Magnus looks for the one mech on the ship that he knows still has some semblance of reason and sense among the daily insanity that sometimes interrupts their routines. After a moment, he finally meets the red optics of the mech he’s looking for in question at the back of the room near the door standing beside a scowling watchful Cyclonus.

Megatron nods his acknowledgement of meeting his optics before turning his head to do a sweep of the room. Soon enough, his comm system beeps.

_‘Ultra Magnus here.’_

There’s a brief silence on the line and he waits for Megatron to speak - knowing by now that it is better to let the former warlord gather his thoughts together for what he wants to say rather than push to him speak like Rodimus does. Eventually Megatron starts to speak, and he tries hard to ignore how the deep tonization of Megatron’s voice makes his spark shiver.

_‘It is Megatron. I’m sure you’re well aware that ship regulations will most likely be broken now we have overcharged mechs that have attempted to play the drinking games of the Earth organics. We may have to set some watch rotations to keep our optics open for any idiots that are known for trying to take advantage of the vulnerable status of a fellow crew member. There are also those ridiculous horror stories of theirs floating through the ship now. No doubt someone will have been disturbed by them.’_

Disturbed. A word that Ultra Magnus had often at times been heard used to describe Megatron from time to time. That is when there weren’t whispers of mechs trying figure out of the… size of Megatron’s spike. Really sometimes Ultra Magnus still found himself wondering how he had ended up with this assignment to the Lost Light.

_‘Agreed. We will likely need to have a watch out for the more foolish mechs that will no doubt be up to something. What does Rodimus say?’_

A snort comes across the comm line before Megatron answers him.

_‘Who do you think encouraged this current insanity? Our illustrious leader decided to both suggest and take part in it.’_

_‘Of course he did.’_ He suppresses a soft sigh, because really this whole thing does have the feeling that Rodimus had had something to do with the scene in front of them.

_‘Nevertheless we will arrange for there to be a watch of some kind. In a few breems perhaps, once we know who is not currently overcharged.’_

_‘Agreed. Was there anything else?’_

_‘Negative. Megatron out.’_

The comm line goes silent and he turns his attention back to the group as someone crows with laughter at something someone had said.

0

_“I heard that the organics on Earth have a tale about someone called Bloody Mary..”_

_There had been many loud guffaws and snickers at Rodimus for that one from the mechs sitting with them - even Whirl sitting next to him who snorted quietly, save for Ratchet and Drift who shared a look as they remained silent._

_“Really? What’s that one about then? Is it any scarier than anything else you shared with us from the Earth organics?”_

_Another voice cuts in before Rodimus can answer the question._

_“Way I’ve heard that one is that when you hate someone, you go stand in front of a reflective surface, and say Bloody Mary three times, then say the name of the person you don’t like. Then she’ll go after that person for you.”_

_He hadn’t missed how more than one set of optics slide towards the doors of the room where more than a few mechs, including Cyclonus, stood watching the games that Rodimus had set up._

_“All the same. I’ve got another good one for you gentle-mechs. Listen to this one…”_

He’s not scared, not scared at all.

His lovers, Cyclonus and Whirl, he knows both of them as brave, honorable mechs in their own way and who are never scared of anything. Not that he had ever seen either mech show they were scared of something before.

How long has he been walking down this particular corridor of the ship? He’s not sure and he doesn’t like the look of the corridor either. It doesn’t look like the crew quarters deck either and there was something wrong with the shadows.

He stopped and stared at one of the darker shadows in the corridor, trying to figure out what was causing it. After a couple of breems had passed, the dark shadow slowly started to move towards him and he took a step back, his spark churning nervously as the shadow seemed to slowly stand up to tower over him.

Then it starts to grow tentacles that slowly begin to reach towards him.

_“Tailgate, come to me…”_

As he runs, the empty corridor seems to lengthen and tentacles writhe outwards from shadows that have glowing red optics.

_“Tailgate…”_

A set of doors slides open and he flings himself through it, only glancing behind himself once to see that the shadows were still following him. Forcing himself to look in front of himself, he takes note of the unfamiliar corridor before he slips in between a set of doors that had been slowly sliding closed as he reached them.

_“Tailgate!”_

Slowly new corridors begin to fill with mechs he knows, each one of them reaching towards him as though to lead him to safety and he wants to trust them, trust that he find safety with any one of them. The only problem is that all of them are missing their optics and optical visors. Leaving behind empty sparking optical sockets. Did two of the mechs have sharpened needles sticking out of their empty optical sockets?

_“Come back, Tailgate!”_

He flings himself down another corridor, hearing the shadows call out for him to stop with familiar voices as he runs down another lengthening corridor. He's running out of doors, running out of time as the shadows continue to follow, no doubt swallowing up the mechs in the halls behind him. Someone tries to call him into one of the crew quarters, but the shadows are coming after him and Tailgate makes himself keep going. His spark is shuddering and feels like it’s attempting to pull into itself, feels of desperation and terror racing through them.

Finally the corridor ends at a dead end and he tries to find a way through it as the shadows slowly approach, hoping to find a hidden door of some kind. Eventually his mind accepts that there’s nothing for him to find. A dark tentacle lightly touches his ankle plating and he pushes himself back into a corner of the wall trying to make himself as small as possible while burying his face into his arms.

Something touches his shoulder and shakes him roughly.

_“Frag it all, Tailgate. Wake up. Wake up now you little slagger. No, you little - Sunstreaker pull back your pet now before I turn him into something not so nice.”_

Wait that can’t be right. He blinks his optics online as his systems do a forced hard restart, looking at his pedes for a long moment as he listens to his systems run softly as someone makes an irritated noise before poking him.

“C’mon little fragger, I know you’re online now.”

Slowly he pulls his head up and meets Ratchet’s annoyed stare, he also notes that the corridor around them seems to be much brighter now.

“Ratchet?”

Ratchet nods slightly then grunts as he throws himself into the medic’s chest plating and wraps his arms around him, burying his face into the other mech’s shoulder. Ratchet just sighs instead of trying to push him away and just holds him.

“Yeah, its me.”

“What happened? How did I end up out here?”

Another hand touches his left shoulder and he tries not to flinch as he looks over his shoulder to meet the kind, bright optics of Drift. For his part, Drift doesn’t make sound as he throws himself out of Ratchet’s arms and into his arms, shivering all the while like a scared youngling.

“We had been hoping that you would tell us, Tailgate.”

The deep base tone of the voice makes him look up to find Megatron standing close to their little three mech group and just beyond the mech, he can see Sunstreaker standing nearby keeping an excitedly squealing Bob back. And beyond the two of them, he could just barely make up other brightly colored mechs moving around, no whispering and watching.

Great, he had an audience to witness his fright.

“Tailgate?”

He drags his optics back to Megatron and meets his gaze, part of him wondering if he’s going to crazy to think that he sees bemused concern in the once warlord’s optics. He shrugs slightly as he recalls the statement.

“I don’t really know. I just remember running as I could… while something dark and shadowy chased after me through ship corridors.”

He doesn’t miss the look that Ratchet and Drift share with each other, he’s too tired to question it as Megatron shifts his weight slightly, looking thoughtful.

“Running… that confirms the various comm reports Ultra Magnus and I had been receiving for the past two cycles. That you were out of crew quarters and running from something, but no one was sure what.”

“And Bob?”, Tailgate asks as his systems heat up from embarrassment, tilting his head toward an annoyed Sunstreaker and a still excited Bob.

Megatron shrugs again as Drift laughs softly and Ratchet makes a soft sound. “Our resident Insecticon and Sunstreaker saw you run past their quarter, as I understand it, got excited and started a running rampage after you. Perhaps he thought you were playing a game.”

“Oh…”

“Now that we’re all kindly up to date more or less, I advise that we send Tailgate back to his quarters or I can take him to the medbay and sedate him for a cycle or two. His systems are registering stress and I would like for his spark to cease its distressed spin.”

He shakes his head quickly, ignoring how dizzy he makes himself feel with the motion as an image of needle filled sockets appears briefly in his mind. Drift makes a soft sound as he squeezes Tailgate’s shoulder gently.

“Crew quarters it is then.”

“Indeed.”

After Drift helps him stand up and shares a quiet word with Ratchet that Tailgate pretends he doesn’t hear, he and Megatron walk together with him in silence down the corridor to the crew quarters that he shared with Cyclonus and Whirl. He stays silent as Megatron presses the door chime and as a still sleepy Whirl answers the door.

“What’s goin’ on, pipsqueak? Boss-boss? Sword mechling?”

As two of them answer his question, Whirl reaches out to take Tailgate from them by the shoulder and he leans into the other mech’s frame before he’s pulled gently into their shared quarters. In the berthroom, Cyclonus, is online and sitting up on the berth as he watches their approach with narrowed optics.

“What happened?”

“Dunno. Boss-boss and Sword mechling said there were reports of this one running through the corridors like a frightened turbofox. And something about Sunny’s pet Insecticon going on a rampage after him.” Whirl shrugs slightly as he pushes Tailgate up and into the berth before climbing in after him and resting an arm on him protectively as Cyclonus lays back down.

“Recharge, pipsqueak. We’ve got you now.”

Cyclonus merely rumbles softly in response as his energy field brushes over them as they cycle back into a recharge cycle.


End file.
